The man who will be Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, recently attended the Maui Film Festival alongside young actors like Olivia Wilde, Megan Fox, and Garrett Hudlund, where he received the “Shining Star Award” for his collective acting work. He took some time out to talk about his role in Spider-Man, too.

On how he felt about the abnormally long seven month shoot, courtesy of E! Online:

“It was so long, man. It’s crazy. I feel like I lost a sense of myself for a while…It was very hard work. I worked my butt off.”

On the widely discussed – both adored and disliked –Amazing Spider-Man image that showcased Andrew Garfield in the new Spider-Man costume (now with webshooters):

“I saw it before that image was going to be released. [Director Marc Webb] slipped me a little copy of it. I had to catch my breath a little. It was very, very exciting. It was surreal.”

On whether or not Garfield’s prepared for his forthcoming exposure as a result of playing the beloved Marvel superhero:

“Wouldn’t it be funny if there was like no one there? Wouldn’t that be brilliant and kind of hilarious?”

Then, perhaps realizing how unlikely that scenario is, he said:

“I can be smoking a cigarette in a Spider-Man costume looking at the camera for two hours and going, ‘I’m Spider-Man’ and people will still want to see it because it’s Spider-Man.”

Everything we’ve seen and heard of The Amazing Spider-Man seems to indicate that it’s taking its cues from both the Marvel 616 and Ultimate Spider-Man comics. Hopefully, Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) will take an approach to the property that’s interesting and somewhat unfamiliar to us.